[3] Winder is married to Karyn Hermansen, who was elected to the Granite School District Board of Education in November 2014.

[10][11] Winder later was employed as a vice president of community development and director of entrepreneurship programs for Zions Bank from 2014 to 2017.

[15] He was elected to an at-large seat on the West Valley City Council in November 2005 with 71% of the vote over 12-year incumbent Barbara Thomas.

[16] He was elected on November 3, 2009 as the seventh mayor of West Valley City, Utah, with 76% of the vote; his opponent was Kevin Fayles.

[20] In 2016, Winder ran for the Utah State House of Representatives, defeating incumbent Fred Cox in the Salt Lake County Republican Convention by a delegate vote of 62% to 38%.

Winder was re-elected in 2018, following a victory over former-Representative Fred Cox in a Republican county convention rematch 67% to 33%[23] and a general election win over Democrat Robert Burch, Jr. 57% to 43%.

In defending his position, Rep. Winder said, "As a fiscal conservative I cannot vote for a bill to throw away tax dollars in a losing lawsuit or to cost the state in economic opportunities all while only serving as a message of hate while being mired in court...Utah can do better!

[33] In 2005, Winder was appointed by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to a four-year term on the Utah Board of State History, and reappointed in 2009.

In 2012, he was appointed by Governor Gary Herbert to a four-year term on the Advisory Board for the Office of Museum Services.

[34][failed verification] Winder presented an academic paper as part of the Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial in 2009 and was published in the Journal of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in 2011.

[38] In 2011, Winder wrote articles promoting West Valley City for the Deseret News and KSL.com under the assumed name "Richard Burwash".

"[46] In 2017, Winder was also accused of using multiple user accounts to edit the Wikipedia article about him, to promote his accomplishments and remove unflattering information.